“We will be lifting off shortly” a voice says from above.
If you can’t tell I’m on a plane, like always. See, my mom is a flight attendant so I’m always on a plane or in a hotel. I have been ALL over the world. Oh, sorry how rude of me, my name is Jessica Smith. I am 15 years old, and my dad home schools me. He used to be a geometry teacher. Anyway, my mom does the hand motions and then we’re off. But, I am actually excited. We’re going to Ireland! We lived in Ireland for 2 years when I was 9. And one of my best friends lives there, Lauren and I kept in touch all these years, but I can’t wait to see her again …

“Now landing in Galway” I hear from above.
From Galway we drive 155 miles to Belfast; basically we’re driving from one side of Ireland to the other.


“OH MY GOSH” Lauren yells as we pull up and I get out of the car.
Unlike me Lauren has gotten really tall, she has short brown hair about shoulder length and she’s skinny. I am short, I have long red hair and I am pretty thin too…she comes up and gives me a hug
“I haven’t seen you in FOREVER” she says hugging me and she helps us with the bags.
When we get inside, it’s followed by more hugging from Mr. and Mrs. White, and then they tell us what room were staying in. My parents, Bill and Jamie, are sleeping in the guest room, and I am sleeping in Lauren’s room. Once we have gotten everything in and I have set up my sleeping bag, I plop down on it and rest my head on my pillow.
Lauren walks in the room, “you’re already tired” she says sitting on her bed
“Yeah” I say laughing “well, it’s a long flight, and drive” I add
“Yeah it sounds like a long time” she says,
I sit up “ya know you haven’t changed a bit” I say
“You haven’t changed either” she says, I get up and sit beside her.
“Ok, since we haven’t changed we have to do A LOT of the things we used to do” I say
“But we were 9” she says,
I laugh “I know, but there were a couple things we could do then we can do now” I say
“Like what” she asks
“Like getting ice cream every night”
“Ok, let’s start now” she says pulling me off the bed and dragging me to the kitchen

When we get into the kitchen, our parents are talking, Lauren goes to sit next to her mom and I sit next to my mom, we both look at them with the puppy dog eyes. They look at us then at each other,
“Yes you can go get ice cream” they say in unison
We laugh as our mom’s hand us money, we then head out the door and down the street, there is a little ice cream place at the end of the street.
“This is just like old times” I say
“Yeah” she says “I’m gonna hate it when you leave at the end of the month” she adds
“Me too” I say looking down at the ground…
You see, I never told anyone this, not even Lauren, but I hate going all around the world you’d think it would be fun but, I don’t have any friends, except for Lauren who I email when I can, write letters and call her, but its not the same…and whenever were in another place of the world were always sight seeing. I mean its fun, but I just really, really, wish that we could just settle down somewhere.
When we get to the ice cream place I see this guy……………he’s kinda cute and he starts heading over our way, he looks familiar………but I can’t remember who he is.
“Hey Lauren, who’s your friend” he says looking at me
“Hey Ryan, that’s-’’
“RYAN!”
“Uh……yeah that’s me”
“Ryan…” Lauren begins giving me a funny look “it’s Jessica”
“JESSICA!”
I laugh “yeah”
“You mean Jessica from Ms. Sabatini’s 4th grade class?”
“Yep! That’s me” I say with an incredibly cheesy smile, which I shouldn’t have done
“Wow. I haven’t seen you in forever. Wow. That’s just wow.” He says looking down.
“Ok Ryan, I think she gets it” Lauren says giving me another look. He laughs and nudges her in the arm
“I’m sorry” he begins “but its not who I expected to see at Benny’s ice cream shop”
“Well, surprise!” I say. He laughs.
“Yeah, she’s staying with me for a month” Lauren adds
“We should all hang out sometime, but I gotta go. See ya later” Ryan says and leaves. As soon as he is out of ear shot Lauren drags me to the bench
“What was that?!” she demands
“Uhh I don’t know. Why what was wrong?”
“You guys were acting so weird…when I said Ryan you liked freaked out? What was up with that?”
“I don’t know I haven’t seen him in awhile and he looked different…”
“Well duh, of course he looks different I mean it’s been like 5 years”
“Yeah exactly…so can we get ice cream now?”
“Whatever” she says nudging me in the arm.

We were sitting in Lauren’s room looking through some magazines when Lauren’s cell phone buzzed.
“That’s weird…it’s a text from Ryan”
I try not to sound too eager but I don’t think I convinced anyone “Really? What’s it say?”
Lauren gives me yet another weird look and says “It says ‘Hey Lauren, I was wondering if you and Jessica wanted to come to the movies with me and my friend Dylan.’ OMG he’s friends with DYLAN”
“Who’s Dylan?”
“Oh ummm…uhh” she clears her throat “ohhhh ummmmm………….THIS REALLY CUTE JUNIOR”
I bust out laughing, I can’t help it “oh…really…” I manage to say through my laughter
“What’s so funny?!?” Lauren demands
“Nothing. I thought it was funny that you couldn’t just come out and say it”
“That’s not funny!”
“I know, I shouldn’t have laughed I’m sorry”
“It’s ok”
“So tell me about this Dylan guy!!”
“Well, he’s a junior and he was in my math and history class. He’s a soccer player and has the most amazing blonde hair…” she sighs and lays down on her bed
“He sounds pretty cute”
“Pretty cute? More like drop dead gorgeous”
I laugh “of course” I say in a sarcastic tone
“Well it’s true!”
“You crack me up!”
“So?”
“So what?”
“Do you wanna go??!!” she asks me a little too excited
“DUH!!” I shout “Text him back! Text him back! Tell him we will come!”
“Ok, ok, jeez” she says laughing. “Ok he said we should meet him there”
“Ok let’s go”

We were sitting outside the theatre when they arrived. We had been sitting there only for about five minutes so it wasn’t bad at all. I was excited I haven’t been to a movie here since the second to last week before I left. But I was also sort of nervous, for some reason I couldn’t explain it, but I felt different around Ryan. Lauren wasn’t lying about how cute Dylan was but for some odd reason I couldn’t keep my eyes off of Ryan. He had some sort of vibe; I guess is how you described him that made him feel so mysterious. But how? How could he be a mystery to me? He was one of my best friends for two years. This doesn’t make any sense. This whole time my mind is spinning round and round and I have no idea what my face looked like but it must have looked funny or weird because Ryan looks at me and asks,
“Are you ok?”
“Huh? Yeah…uhh…I’m fine” I say totally regretting they way I sounded
“You sure?”
“Yeah, positive, I’m ok”
“That’s good” he says giving me a smile
“So do you guys wanna go see the movie now?” Lauren asks giving me yet another weird look. I return the look and follow them inside. Once inside we got out tickets and headed to theatre four. This is where we decided to get seats, of course I was freaking out because I didn’t know where I should sit. Luckily Ryan asked me if I wanted to sit next to him and without totally freaking out or too eager I managed to say yes and sit down. Then Lauren came and sat next to me and Dylan sat next to her. She nudged me and gave me a cheesy smile.

We got back to Lauren’s house late that night. It was about 10:30 when we walked in the door. Normally, our mothers would have been furious with us. But surprisingly they weren’t, they knew we hadn’t seen each other in 5 years and were glad that we had fun. I’m really sad that we are only spending a month here. When we got to Lauren’s room I decided that I should say something about it and maybe we could find a way for me to stay longer.
“Ummm Lauren?”
“Yeah?”
“Well…I wish I could stay longer…in Ireland I mean”
“Me too! I have missed you so much!”
“I have missed you too! I Just wish there was some way that we could stay a little longer”
“You know, your parents could always get jobs here”
I laughed. Was she kidding? My parents settling down? Would they? “Do you really think my parents would try to find jobs in Ireland?”
“Well maybe, it all depends. Only if your parents want to, you might also have a say in it. Have you ever told them how you feel?”
“No…wait. How do you know that I have gotten tired of this?”
“It’s easy. I know you too well” she laughs “I could tell in your letters and e-mails you weren’t having fun any more. I understand. But you need to tell your parents”
I laugh again, this time she must be kidding. This is my mom’s job. She loves it. I could never make her stop because of me I would feel to bad… “No way am I doing that!”
“Why not?”
“Because! This is my mom’s job. It’s what she enjoys! I could never take this away from her!”
“But Jessica, she needs to know how you feel!”
“I don’t want to tell her!”
“Why not?!?”
“Because! Now can we please get off this subject…I’m sorry I brought it up”
“Whatever fine.” And with that she rolled over and fell asleep. I probably laid there for about fifteen minutes before falling asleep. I can’t remember what I dreamed about but I know it had to do with Ryan, my parents, and Lauren. It was a very odd dream but that’s all I can remember from it. When I finally got myself off the sleeping bag and into the kitchen Lauren’s dad was already making pancakes.
“Good Morning!” I said to everyone in the room, which consisted of my mom and dad and Lauren’s parents…but where was Lauren?…she wasn’t in the room when I got up…
“Umm where’s Lauren?” I ask
“Oh she went down to the pond…here are some pancakes for the two of you” Lauren’s dad says giving me a plate of pancakes. I walk out the back door. It smells like the morning dew and I see the pond off to the left and Lauren is at the end of the dock with her feet in the water.
“Good morning” I say as I walk onto the dock and sit beside her
“Good morning” she says in reply and spins her foot in a clockwise motion in the water
“How did you sleep?” I ask
“Pretty well…”
“That’s good. When did you get up?”
“Around 7:30”
“7:30? Are you kidding me?”
“No. Why?”
“You used to sleep in really late.”
“Yeah” she laughs “I seem to wake up early now I guess” she laughs again. We begin to eat the pancakes.
“I can’t believe how much we have changed” I finally said
“Yeah” she sighs “its true” then she turns and looks out into the pond “I remember this first day I brought you to the pond…”
“Me too” I laugh “I was so fascinated”
She laughs now too “yeah………………”


June 14th 2003:

We were running down to the pond. I was in my Yellow one piece with red poke-a-dots; Lauren was in her pink two piece. I was heading toward the dock but Lauren was not. She was running to the right. That’s when I noticed the big tree with the rope. Was she crazy? I was so not swinging off of that.
“C’mon!” she yelled
“Do I have to?” I asked nervously
“You don’t have to if you don’t want to…but its fun.” That’s what I loved about Lauren she never pushed me unless it was absolutely necessary.
“I don’t know…” I say
“Do what you want to do” she says and then swings back and forth and jumps into the pond. I wanted to do it, but I was scared. I wasn’t backing down I knew I had to do it. With that I climbed up the rope and swung back and forth and into the pond I went. It was the most fun I had had in awhile and it felt good………………


I looked over at the tree. The rope was still there. I smiled and remembered that day. Good times we had. Lauren looks over there too.
“You wanna do it?”
“Now?”
“Not right now” she says rolling her eyes at me.
“I’ll go get my suit!” I ran into the house, Lauren not to far behind, ran into Lauren’s room started rummaging through my bag throwing clothes everywhere, finally finding my suit and running into the bathroom to change. Less then 1 minute later I was out the bathroom door and knocking on Lauren’s door. She suddenly opened the door and let me inside. I grabbed my towel and started out the door. Lauren called me to stop so she could grab her towel from the hall closet and after she grabbed it we were running out the back door and to the pond. Because Lauren’s legs were so long, she was ahead of me and was half way up the rope before I got there. She was swinging back and forth and back and forth…then in to the water she went I started climbing up and did the same thing and into the water I went. We were just swimming around. I remembered that this was the first place that I met Ryan………………


June 26th 2003:


“Jess! Jess! Jess!” Lauren yells at me coming out of her house and over to the pond where I was sitting on the dock.

“What?!?” I exclaim

“My mom just told me my friend Ryan is coming to swim with us”

“Who is Ryan?” I ask

“I told you he is my friend” she laughs. “You will like him he’s cool!” she sits next to me on the dock. I decided to get back in the water so I walked over to the rope where I am finally comfortable to swing from and I swing into the water. Lauren follows me and we swim for awhile. Then Lauren’s mom comes down to the pond with a plate of cookies and a boy that looks about our age. I infer that this is Ryan.

“Hi girls” Lauren’s Mom begins “I brought some cookies and Ryan’s here” she says leaves the plate of cookies on the dock and walks back to the house.

“Ryan, this is my friend Jessica. She just moved here from New Zealand”

“New Zealand? Wow. That’s cool”

“Thanks”

“You don’t have a New Zealand accent…it almost sounds American”

I laughed. No one had made a comment on my accent before “I was born in the U.S. but my mom is a flight attendant, and the last place we stayed was New Zealand, and we were only there for 6 months.

“Really? I didn’t know that” Lauren says

“Yeah”
I Reply

“Then why doesn’t your mom have an accent and your dad does?”

“Because my dad is from Ireland and my mom is from the United States.”
“Wow that’s so cool!” Lauren says
“Where else have you been?” Ryan asks all fascinated
“Well…I lived in the Bahamas, Canada, Greenland, Sweden, England, Australia, New Zealand, and now here”
“Wow that’s a lost of different place” Ryan exclaims
I laughed “I guess so”
“So why do your mom and my mom know each other so well?” Lauren asks
“Because, when my mom was in high school she studied Irish, she decided to move to Ireland and find a job here. She met my dad, who is a friend of your mom so that’s basically how they met and became best friends”
“Wow that’s really cool!” Lauren exclaims
“I’m so glad you moved here Jessica” Ryan says………………


“JESS! JESS! JESS” Lauren yells at me
“Huh? What?”
“Did you here a word I said?”
“Ummmmm. I’m sorry. No”
“Ugh! Well I was telling you that before you came down, Ryan texted me and told me that him and Dylan might come over and swim”
“WHAT?!” I shriek and I splash around
“Will you chill?”
“I’m sorry”
“It’s alright. Just breathe”
I took a deep breath but started to worry. Ryan was going to see me in my bikini?? What?? How did Lauren feel about Dylan seeing her in her bikini? I must have looked panicked again because Lauren put her hands on my shoulders
“Breathe Jess, breathe!”
This time I took two deep breaths and closed my eyes, I remembered when I first learned this technique, Lauren had taught it to me


September 30th 2003. Mrs. Sabatini’s 4th grade Class:


“I’m gonna fail this math test, I’m gonna fail this math test!” I repeated, Lauren turned around

“No your not!” she insisted

“I’m gonna fail!”

“No your not” she said again

“Yes I am” I started to panic. Lauren got up from her desk and put her hands on my shoulders

“Breathe” she says. I take one deep breathe but it doesn’t help I’m still in total panic mode

“Breath and close your eyes” I do this and calm down………………



Ever since then, I use that method to calm down.

“Jess!” Lauren yells at me once again

“I’m sorry I keep spacing out”

“I can tell”

“So what were you saying?”

“Well, I was asking if you cared if they were coming because you keep freaking out on me.”

“Uhh, sure, why not”

“Ok, I’ll text him back now and tell him to come whenever he wants” with that she got out of the pond and went to her phone. I decided to get out and go once more on the rope. I swung into the pond and landed a perfect cannon ball. Lauren, instead of taking the rope just ran from the dock and dove into the pond.

When she finally caught up to me she told me that he said they will be here “soon” whatever that meant. I later found out that it meant in 5 minutes. Lauren and I were just swimming around when all of the sudden came this massive wave…ok maybe not massive but he did splash us

“Ryan!” we shouted in unison

“And Dylan” Dylan said

We laughed “Nice” I say to Dylan and turn to Ryan “And was that really necessary?”

“Yes” he says and dives back under the water, next thing I know I feel someone grab onto me and when I realize its Ryan and start to fight back, its too late, and he throws me. When I finally resurface I head to where he is standing and splash him, then he returns my wonderful gesture with a splash. We continue to splash each other until Lauren steps in and stop me from splashing him any further

“You two are so immature!” she yells at us

“Hey he started it” I say splashing Ryan again, Lauren splashes me

“Well be the bigger person!”

“I’m sorry!”

“You should be!”

“Hey, hey, it’s ok, calm down” Dylan says patting Lauren on the shoulder. Lauren takes a deep breathe.

“I’m sorry; I just thought you two were acting kind of kiddish”

“What do you expect from Ryan?” I asked jokingly

“I’m still here ya know”

“Yeah we know” I replied

“But we are aloud to speak the truth” Lauren adds

“Hey!” he says

“Were only kidding…” Lauren begins but stops because he’s laughing. We figured out he was just kidding too.

“So is everything ok?” Dylan asks, but he said this to Lauren

“Yeah I’m fine…I, I mean we’re fine” she says, I laugh, but before she can give me the look I dive back into the water. When I come up I am splashed I turned around expecting it to be Ryan but, it’s Lauren. I laugh and dive back in.